According to dictionary guidelines the phonetic sequence of ei in Japanese is pronounced as a long e except when this sequence appears at a morphemic boundary. However, a careful examination of the literature reveals that linguists hold different opinions regarding the pronunciation. Some authors mention possible pronunciations with two distinct sounds, while others advocate for the pronunciation only with long vowel. Through an exploration of the historical development of long vowels in Japanese, we can observe a tendency for diphthongs to evolve into long vowels. One established assimilation, for example, is the assimilation of the ou sequence into a long o. Based on the historical evolution of long vowels, a comparison of various experts' opinions regarding the pronunciation of the ei sequence, and recommendations from dictionaries, I investigate whether the assimilation of the ei sequence is already present in the everyday speech of native speakers of Japanese, particularly those who use the Tokyo dialect, and to what extent. The results of this research question rely on audio recordings from a younger population of native speakers who use the Tokyo dialect in their everyday speech, as well as auditory evaluations by assessors. The words I examined in the study were carefully selected based on their origin, type, and syllable count. Various factors influence the presence of assimilation, such as the word's origin, type of word, and the context in which the word is pronounced, all of which are addressed in this thesis.
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